Ex-UFC champ Velasquez released on $1M bail

Cain Velasquez was granted $1 million bail Tuesday after eight months in custody.

The former UFC heavyweight champion is being charged with attempted murder and 10 other gun-related charges in Santa Clara County (Calif.). Velasquez is being accused of chasing down a man, Harry Goularte, in his vehicle and shooting at him. Goularte is being charged with sexually assaulting a young relative of Velasquez.

Velasquez said in a civil lawsuit filed in June that Goularte molested Velasquez’s 4-year-old son.

Velasquez will have to wear a GPS tracker and not come within 300 yards of the alleged victims in the case, per Velasquez’s attorney, Mark Geragos.

“It’s been a long slog and I am very grateful,” Geragos told ESPN. “Nothing is as touching as watching him having it sink in with his wife, Michelle, there.”

Velasquez, 40, had been in jail since Feb. 28 and pleaded not guilty in August. He was granted bail Tuesday by Judge Arthur Bocanegra at the end of a pretrial hearing after previously having been denied bail four times by Judge Shelyna Brown. Velasquez allegedly shot Goularte’s step-father Paul Bender when he fired into the vehicle Goularte was riding in. Bender sustained no serious injuries.

Velasquez followed Goularte’s truck in his own vehicle on an “11-mile, high-speed chase” through the city of San Jose, rammed the truck and fired a 40-caliber handgun multiple times into the truck, which carried Goularte, Bender and Goularte’s mother, Patricia, according to the DA’s office. Bender was hit with a bullet, though he sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Velasquez’s son told police Feb. 24 that Goularte took him into the bathroom of a daycare center and touched his genitals, per a court document. The child said Goularte told him not to tell anyone what happened and that this situation might have occurred “100 times.” The child told police that they witnessed Goularte go into the bathroom with other kids, as well.

Geragos said having a hearing was key to Bocanegra making this decision. He said he’s not sure when the trial will be held, but Velasquez will have a chance to go home beginning Tuesday.

“Instead of listening to all this hyperbole and nonsense bandied about, we had a hearing with cross-examinations and witnesses under oath,” Geragos said.